Personal income climbs 4.6% in a year in South Florida

November 26, 2012|By Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel

Total personal income jumped 4.6 percent last year in South Florida to $43,072 per person in the tri-county area but the rate of increase fell below the U.S. average, according to federal statistics released Monday.

Total personal income in Broward increased the most -- up 4.7 percent -- in yearly income that includes wages, benefits, dividends, interest, food stamps and other government aid, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported.

Palm Beach County wasn't too far behind at 4.4 percent in its yearly increase in personal income from 2010 to 2011, the agency found.

The growth in personal incomes shows that South Florida continues to recover from economic hard times, economists say.

"The story is fairly consistent: There's slow growth -- but growth," said Chris McCarty, director of the University of Florida's Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

"Over the next five years, the economy will continue to come back," agreed economist William B. Stronge, professor emeritus at Florida Atlantic University.

In fact, Floridians have been fairly upbeat about their confidence in an improving economy in comparison to their plunges in attitude during the Great Recession, added McCarty who oversees UF's monthly consumer confidence survey that comes out Tuesday.

Still, South Florida lags in the rate of growth behind the U.S. increase of 5.2 percent in yearly personal income.

South Florida also dropped behind in its per capital personal income ranking among the nation's 366 metro areas. It had been 53rd in the nation a decade ago in 2001 but fell to 61st in 2011.

Still, South Florida's per capita remains above the national average: $43,072 vs. the nation's $41,560.

That's partly because more South Floridians earn dividends, interest and rent than the rest of the nation. A quarter of income in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties comes from dividends, interest and rent. In comparison only 16 percent of the U.S. personal income does.

South Florida also showed an increase in 2011 in government benefits -- up nearly 7 percent in a year in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.

That's to be expected with more South Floridians needing government help after such a deep recession, said economist Stronge of FAU.

"That’s the way it is supposed to work in weak economy," he said.

The number of people on food stamps, for example, has continued to rise in South Florida since the recession hit in December 2007. Even now, more than 17,000 South Floridians went on foodstamps last month, adding to the 1.1 million already on the program in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, according to caseload data released by the Florida Department of Children and Families earlier this month.

The Great Recession also continues to impact South Florida with the percent of wages and benefits declining from 60 percent of all personal income a decade ago to 57 percent in 2011.

That drop may seem small but "a 3 percent shift is a big deal," said UF's McCarty. It shows that South Florida has still not regained its full work force, he said.

But it may also reflect an aging population, McCarty added.

"You would expect a decrease as the baby boomers retire," said Stronge of FAU.